Attitudes towards technology and their relationship with pro-environmental behaviour: Development and validation of the GATT scale

Abstract

Both behavioural changes and technological advances are needed to mitigate climate change and solve environmental issues. While optimistic attitudes towards technology can help to increase public support for these technological advances, they could also attenuate the perceived necessity for pro-environmental behaviour change. This is problematic, as an overreliance on technological solutions at the cost of behavioural changes could decrease the probability of meeting established climate change mitigation targets. Across three studies in Switzerland (n1 = 552, n2 = 547, n3 = 549), we introduce and validate a 15-item survey instrument to measure general attitudes towards technology (GATT), namely techno-pessimistic, techno-optimistic, and techno-fix attitudes. Confirmatory factor analysis confirms the robustness of the instrument and models based on Item Response Theory indicate acceptable item fit indices. We then investigate how these different attitudes relate to pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Our results show that techno-fix attitudes are negatively associated with behavioural intentions, while techno-optimistic and techno-pessimistic attitudes are positively associated with behavioural intentions through an increase in climate change concern. To foster engagement in pro-environmental behaviour, we recommend strengthening techno-optimistic instead of techno-fix narratives, by highlighting the importance of individual behaviour changes for achieving climate change mitigation.